Live cams from Russia

Stretching across a long chain of time zones, the country behind this hub runs on clocks well beyond Moscow's. Hosts in the far east can be winding down while those in the west are only switching on, which is why the hour bars on this page look stretched rather than peaked: the busy part of the day is long instead of sharp.

Russian is the main language of these rooms, and English often appears when a visitor joins from abroad. A short greeting typed in either goes down well, and hosts are generally happy to stay in whichever language you start with.

For Western Europe, a Moscow evening arrives a little ahead of its own, which makes the early part of your night a good moment to look in. Some rooms stay quiet and talk-led, others turn explicit early, and the menu and topic line spell out which is which. Use the name the host gives, stay with the room as it is, and leave the pace to them. A host who goes quiet for a moment is usually reading the chat, not ignoring it.